Posts Tagged ‘2017 All-Star Game’

April 14, 2016 · 8:52 PM ET

NEW YORK — Convening appropriately enough on some of the priciest real estate in the U.S., the NBA’s Board of Governors is expected to discuss and approve its own brand of pricey real estate at its annual spring meeting that ends Friday.

If an average two-bedroom Manhattan condominium seems steep at $1.9 million or $1,500 per square foot, consider the advertising on NBA jerseys that the league’s owners are expected to approve for the 2017-18 season. At a projected 2.5-inch by 2.5-inch size on the left shoulder of uniform shirts – approximately 0.04 square feet – and revenue streams estimated at upwards of $4 million per team contract, the little embroidered corporate logos would be worth the equivalent of $100 million per square foot.

Actually, NBA commissioner Adam Silver used that $100 million figure – as the anticipated payday for the 30 teams overall – back in 2011, long before he took over for David Stern as the league’s top executive. Silver has studied and spearheaded the revenue potential of the in-game branding.

“Let’s begin by saying this isn’t going to affect the competition,” Silver said then. “What we’re talking about is a patch on the jersey. … But once they put their name on the jerseys, they’ll then use their media to promote the NBA extensively.”

The NBA would be the first of the four major U.S. sports leagues to sell ad space on its jerseys, though the WNBA has done so for years. Players wore a Kia logo on their All-Star jerseys in February in Toronto, part of a two-year deal between the auto maker and Turner Sports.

A report by TSN Sports in February noted that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, parent company of the Toronto Raptors, had begun talking with potential advertisers about the jersey ads for 2017-18, citing sources that a price tag of $4 million to $5 million per season was discussed.

ESPN reported this week that a proposal to NBA owners over All-Star Weekend called for 50 percent of jersey-ad revenue to be kept by each team and, to adjust for large vs. small market disparities, 50 percent to be added to the league’s revenue-sharing pool.

Also on the agenda for this week’s BOG meeting, which will conclude with Silver news conference Friday afternoon:.

Discussion of (but not necessarily any sort of vote on) the new “HB2” law in North Carolina generating controversy over its language and intent involving gender-specific restroom and locker room access in government buildings and schools. A half-dozen U.S. senators reportedly drafted a letter to Silver urging the NBA to move the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte, something the Atlanta City Council also has sought. TNT broadcaster and NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley weighed in for a move, as did Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy.

The NBA has maintained its initial position, hoping that a resolution to the matter could be reached within North Carolina. On Tuesday, Gov. Pat McCrory filed an executive order that extends further protections to state employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity, though other provisions of the law remain intact.

Reports on the collective-bargaining agreement from the Labor Relations Committee in anticipation of the labor deal’s reopening by the National Basketball Players Association or the owners by a December deadline, as well as updates related to officiating and to international basketball development.

An official vote, essentially a formality, to approve the Sacramento Kings’ move from Sleep Train Arena to Golden 1 Center.